BEYOND THE LOOKING-GLASS: Book One in the BEYOND Series (6 page)

Anton and Nikki stood at the center of the scorched and smoky clearing. The huge corpse of a dragon lay on its back with its claws in the air. Its massive tail had been severed and lay twitching in the grass nearby. A few feet from the fallen Jabberwock, a battered giant’s crimson-laced body was face down in a puddle of blood.

An oddly-assorted group sat at a damaged table, shivering and sobbing. Nikki stared at a little man with a battered top hat, a big rabbit with quivering pink ears, and a small mouse that constantly twitched its whiskers. The trio clung to one other like survivors of a torpedoed vessel. And their mournful cries rang out through the damp forest air.

“Looks like this party’s over,” Nikki remarked, as she surveyed the smoldering wreckage. She watched with fascination as a soldier, holding his own head under his arm, ran around in circles in the grass. And an ugly troll, apparently in shock, sat on the blackened earth tossing his three heads back and forth in dismay.

Anton took in the scene with his cold blue eyes. He showed no emotion about the devastation he was witnessing. “There’s nothing we can do here. We have to push on.”

Nikki nodded in agreement. They walked through the ashes, causing tiny puffs of grey smoke to rise into the air. In a few moments, they were swallowed up by the dense forest at the edge of the clearing.

As they proceeded through the woods, Anton noticed the vegetation was noticeably different now. The brush was fast becoming more jungle-like. They stumbled and scrambled over foul-smelling muddy patches and through tangled vines.

After an hour of hard going, they reached a river. The swollen water was crammed with floating twigs and debris as it surged downstream.

Anton stopped at the river’s bank and reached inside his tunic. He pulled out the chip tracker.

“I thought you dumped that in the bushes way back there,” Nikki said, surprised.

Anton stared down at the device. “I thought better of it once I regained my senses. I’ve gotten it to work again.”

Nikki grinned. “Great! Which way, boss?”

He pointed. “I’m getting a signal. Faint, but distinct. North down this river.”

The slippery mud and undergrowth along the river bank hampered their progress. They were sweating and panting after they’d gone only a few hundred yards along the bank. Nikki grabbed Anton by the sleeve.

“Look up ahead. There’s a raft moored there.”

They cautiously approached the crude raft. Nikki pulled her weapon, but Anton motioned for her to hold her fire. The next moment, a young freckle-faced boy in bib overalls and a tattered straw hat jumped out of the bushes. Anton smiled at the boy and walked toward him.

“Is this fine raft yours, boy?” he asked.
“Yes, sir. It is.”

“What is your name, lad?”

“Huckleberry Finn. But most folks round here jest calls me Huck.”

“You alone?”

“There’s only me. And Jim.”

A wide-eyed black man in ragged clothing stepped from hiding in the underbrush. He was trembling and fear contorted his face.

“Please, mister,” Huck pleaded. “Don’t take Jim back there. He’s not meant to be no slave. And any law what sez he should be is not human.”

Nikki re-holstered her weapon and stared at Anton to see what his next move would be. But she also kept glancing at Jim to make sure he didn’t try anything funny.

“We’re the law, Huck,” Anton replied. “But not the kind you think. We mean you and Jim no harm.”

“Gee, thanks, sir.”

“But,” he added, “my partner and I are going to have to commandeer your raft. We need it for official police business.”

Huck looked puzzled. He glanced over at the black man. “Gosh, mister. How will me and old Jim escape the sheriff and his men? They’s real close behind us.”

Anton didn’t answer. He waved a hand at Nikki and they hopped aboard the crude raft. Nikki took the long pole and shoved the raft out until it got caught in the river’s fast-moving current.

Huck and Jim stood forlornly on the riverbank.

Anton didn’t look back.

The hunt was again in full swing.

~*~

After a difficult trek through the forest, Kellen noticed the tree branches becoming thicker. The nature of the vegetation was changing. Tree limbs now were more like jungle vines. Off in the distance, he thought he heard the chattering of monkeys. And somewhere, behind a matting of dense green foliage, a tiger roared menacingly.

“What’s happening, Kel?” Aleeta asked breathlessly. Her face was flushed and sweat poured down from her temples.

“Not sure,” he said, “but we’re in a jungle now. In this crazy, mixed-up, world you’ve created.” He put his arm about her waist and pulled her along. The air was growing hot and thick with the rotten-egg smell of marsh gas. As they pushed through thickets of bamboo and razor-sharp blades of jungle grass, a slimy black leech fell from the vines overhead onto Aleeta’s exposed neck. She screamed and Kellen knocked it away before it could attach itself and suck blood.

As they continued to fight through walls of bamboo stalks, strands of sunlight shone down through tangled vines and delicate dripping leaves. Thorn bushes tore at their skin as they clawed through the bush. And rust-red muddy holes, filled with brackish yellow water, threatened to suck them down to their death.

A deadly striped krait snake slid across Aleeta’s foot. She gasped and grabbed Kellen for support. Before he could dispatch it, the reptile slithered away into the bush.

Finally, the dense jungle parted. They found themselves staring at the ruins of a giant causeway. And stone skeletons of ancient pagan temples. Temple spires reached up into the air above the jungle like fingers.

As they trudged on, rotting trees were growing up everywhere through stone floors that must have once been part of majestic palaces. The battlements of the fortresses had long since crumbled away to dust. Wild green and brown creepers spilled out of blackened tower windows.

Only an empty stone honeycomb stood where a flourishing empire had once thrived and existed.

“Hello, anyone here?” Kellen cried out.

No human answer.

But tribes of wild monkeys now howled and chattered their annoyance at being disturbed by this intruder’s voice. They scrambled along crushed parapets and into holes in old temple walls. The echo of their scolding reverberated through the deserted jungle city’s stone streets.

Then, Kellen heard it!

A boy’s voice crying out at the top of his lungs.

“Hurry,” he said. “I think it came from over there.”

They rushed along the deserted pathways of the dead jungle city, sending screaming monkeys scurrying off in every direction.

The two of them came to a wide, raging river filled with floating debris. The water swirled and eddied as it roared forward.

Kellen cautioned Aleeta to be quiet.

“What is it? Do you see anything?”

“A boy. I see a boy over on the far riverbank.”

“Jace!”

“I don’t think so. He has bushy hair. He looks wild. He looks like--“

“Who?”

“Like Mowgli, that jungle boy in Kipling’s story.”

As Mowgli spotted the two invaders in his jungle kingdom he raised his head up and howled like a beast.

The jungle answered.

Somewhere, in the dense jungle nearby, a tiger roared in defiance.

Mowgli leaped forward onto a row of half-submerged rocks that spanned the river. He growled and shook his shaggy head, as he took long cat-like strides from stone to stone.

“Oh, my God,” Aleeta said in a quavering voice. “He’s coming after us.” She looked about, desperate, but there was no way to escape.

Kellen put his arm around her. “No use running, Allie. This is the kid’s jungle. He knows every inch of it. We’d never outrun him, or his wild animal friends.”

Aleeta placed her hands over Kellen’s. “I’m glad you’re with me, Kel. I wouldn’t want to spend my last moments on Earth alone.”

Mowgli halted in mid-stream. He stared at something rushing through the water right at him.

A split second later, the crude river raft carrying Anton and Nikki smashed into the startled jungle boy. Mowgli screamed as the raft knocked him off the rocks. His semi-conscious head bobbed up and down in the water for a minute, then sank out of sight. Mowgli was quickly swept away by the turbulent rushing river.

Anton and Nikki were also thrown into the water upon impact. Nikki swam with a strong, confident stroke to the far side of the river. And Anton fought through the fierce current to reach the bank where Aleeta and Kellen stood watching.

As he reached the riverbank, Anton reached out a hand for help. Kellen refused to take it. But Aleeta stepped forward and yanked Anton to his feet. He was dripping wet. Kellen stood glowering at both of them.

“Thanks, Aleeta. I thought I was a goner there for a second.”

Anton stared across the raging river to see how Nikki was doing. She appeared to be unhurt but was checking to see if she’d sustained any major injuries. She waved enthusiastically to her supervisor that she was fine.

There was the thundering roar of a big jungle cat again. It reverberated through the rocky hillside behind Nikki. The frightening echo caused birds and monkeys in the jungle to squawk and chatter.

The next moment, Anton spotted the two them.

High up on a rocky ledge above Nikki.

A sleek black panther and a majestic tiger.

Nikki was facing the river. She didn’t see the marauding jungle cats preparing to pounce down on her.

Anton called out. “Behind you, Nikki. Watch out!” He waved his arms wildly.

But Nikki just smiled and waved back. “I’m okay, Director,” she hollered across the river.

But she wasn’t.

The giant jungle cats jumped down from the rocky ledge. Nikki whirled to face them. She withdrew her weapon and held it up with both hands. Without warning, the black panther dove at Nikki with a frightful snarl.

Nikki fired point-blank!

The bullet hit its mark. The huge panther fell dead at Nikki’s feet.

The Bengal tiger began to pace back and forth, looking for an opening to attack. Nikki backed up until she was right at the water’s edge.

The big tiger pounced.

Nikki was unable to get in a second shot. The two of them tumbled into the water, locked in a fierce embrace.

The big cat screamed and pounded the water. Nikki fought for her life. The enraged tiger attempted to sink its enormous fangs into her naked flesh, and maul her with its razor-sharp claws. As the cat’s huge head moved in for the fatal bite, a loud shot rang out.

The bloodied tiger moaned, sank in a crimson pool, and was swept away by the swift running river.

Nikki swam toward Anton and the others.

“I did it!” Nikki cried out triumphantly, as she neared the riverbank. She grinned at Anton. “I got both devil cats, sir. Did you see?”

Anton smiled at her. “You are a credit to your uniform, partner.” As he reached down to pull her out of the water, he saw a look of terror in her eyes.

“Director!” she screamed.

Nikki was being dragged back into the water by some powerful, invisible force. Then they saw it. The massive head of Kaa, the rock python of the river. The giant snake had clamped its powerful jaws onto Nikki’s legs. It was slowly dragging her backward.

“Anton, someone,” Nikki begged. “Help me!”

Kaa raised its huge head up into the air, still holding Nikki’s legs in its jaws. It began to lap its thick brown and yellow coils around Nikki’s whole body. She was helpless to stop it.

Anton and Kellen jumped into the river and tried to pull the enormous snake loose from its deadly grip. But it was no use. The snake rolled over in the water and tossed the two men aside into its frothing wake.

Nikki choked out one last pitiful cry. Kaa stared at Aleeta standing helpless on the riverbank. The reptile’s long crimson tongue darted in and out. Then the huge python’s powerful body crushed the life out of its prey, and slowly sank back into the dark river, disappearing beneath the surface.

Only a slight ripple on the surface remained.

Anton and Kellen scrambled out of the water to join Aleeta. The three of them stood in silence. “Oh, how horrible,” Aleeta whispered..

Anton’s lips tightened, then his face regained its usual official mask. He wheeled about to face them “I’m taking you two back. I’ll let the court decide your fate.”

“But what about my kids?” Aleeta pleaded. “They’re still lost out here somewhere. I’ve got to find them. I can’t go back, yet.”

“I’ve got to bring you back now. I’ve no choice. It’s my job.”

As Anton and Aleeta argued, Kellen looked around. He didn’t see anything he could use as a weapon. But he did spot a large patch of mud between the edge of the river and the jungle. He kicked a rock into the mud patch. It quickly sank out of sight.

“Let’s go, Allie. The kids are gone. We’ll never find them. We have to go back with him.”

Aleeta was about to argue, but Kellen took her arm sharply and marched her toward the jungle. The Government agent was close behind. At the last possible moment, Kellen shoved Aleeta aside, twisted, and pushed Anton into the mud patch. The agent immediately began to sink.

“What the hell?” he yelled. He twisted this way and that. But the harder he tried, the faster he sank. The mud was over his knees in seconds.

Kellen grabbed Aleeta’s hand and pulled her deeper into the jungle. “Hurry, now’s our chance!” Glancing back, Kellen could see Anton was being rapidly sucked down into the mire. “Help me, damn your eyes!” he screamed. His desperate cries for help rang through the sultry jungle air.

Aleeta whirled about to face Kellen. “I can’t do it, Kel. It’s murder.”

“He’s a Government agent, Allie. One of the bad guys who messed up our world. He wants to take us back, send us to jail, or worse. I’m not going back again to that rotten prison ship. Why should we help him?”

“I can’t let him die like that!”

“Damn it, Allie. He’s not a man. He’s a menace.”

“I’m going back to help. It’s what any decent human being would do.”

Aleeta tore loose from Kellen’s grip. She ran back through the thick jungle underbrush. When she reached the quicksand pit, she searched around for a strong vine and threw one end of it to Anton. He was almost up to his nose in mud now.

Anton frantically reached out with both hands and grabbed the vine. Slowly, he began to pull himself to safety.

“It’s the least I could do,” Aleeta remarked, as she turned and ran back into the jungle.

~*~